Interview - Mike Ruddock: Gerry Thornley talks to Wales coach Mike Ruddock about how he is preparing his side to follow last year's Grand Slam success.
The old pro's cliché will have it that Wales must draw a line under last year's stunningly irreverent Grand Slam success. Easier said than done, however, when you consider Wales' rugby heritage, the 27 years of hurt, the way they went about it (last year's Six Nations would have been as dull as dishwater without them) and, of course, the memories.
When the six coaches and captains assembled in London last week it was striking to note how much more relaxed and chatty Mike Ruddock and Gareth Thomas were compared to their counterparts. Of course, they were entitled to be, but then again, come to think of it, it was the same last year. Maybe there's something in that.
For Wales, you sense, also had more fun along the way than anybody else. Ruddock, it will be recalled, had the ingenious idea of taking the heat off his players in the week before their grand finale against Ireland by letting them go home for a few nights.
Good Lord.
On seeing a blast from his Irish past, Ruddock immediately initiated a discussion about the way Leinster and Munster had qualified for the Heineken European Cup quarter-finals. "Delighted" about that, he still retains contact and a huge affiliation for Leinster and many of the people there - recently meeting up with them and the new Leinster coaching ticket the night before they played in Llanelli - and, it appears, the pull is mutual for the eminently likeable, straight-as-a-dye Welshman.
"It was very emotional," he says, recalling the day Wales beat Ireland to secure their holy grail. "Welsh rugby has huge expectations, as you know, but the point is that after 27 years without a Grand Slam people were losing faith. A few years ago we were selling tickets in supermarkets. Then everybody got behind the team and the momentum was a bit like the day Ulster won the European Cup in Dublin."
Ruddock maintained he didn't let the emotion of their clinching win over Ireland overwhelm him - until Denis Hickie intervened. "Denis gave me his match jersey after the game. I got a bit emotional then. That was really special of Denis. Whatever about the cut and thrust, and politics of rugby, and the stick coaches take, that was a great moment and something I'll remember forever. I don't think I've washed it yet . . ."
All of which, of course, begs the question, how do you follow that? With great difficulty, he admits. "To be honest with you, the older you get, you realise all you can do is try your best. The players in Wales like being encouraged to go out and play their rugby, and we, as the coaches, and particularly me, just accept the responsibility for the performances.
"We'll try to take the fear out of them, and give them a licence to thrill. There will be mistakes, there will be missed tackles, there will be things that go wrong, but I've learnt over the years to encourage 'you can do it rather than you can't, or 'you mustn't risk that pass', or 'you mustn't risk a 50-50'. I've learned from my own mistakes that they can go out and play and do it.
"If it's good enough, it's good enough, and if it happens again this year, great; if it doesn't then that's the way it goes, but at least in my own heart I've tried to encourage the boys to be positive and to play."
He's heard of "second season syndrome". The hunger has been sated, the element of surprise lost. "I've been lucky enough to win a few championships with different teams in the past, and I've never managed to retain a championship in the second year. The gods have been against us with injuries, but we won't use excuses. There's a good buzz in the camp and I notice a big difference from the autumn. We seem more excited, focused, hungrier and more up for the challenge. And we'll certainly go out with the same agenda we had last year."
Encouragingly for Ruddock, the team have already been through a downturn last autumn, when thrashed by the All Blacks, but rebounded to beat Australia for the first time in 18 years, and the Welsh public have stayed with them. Yes, they've been plagued by injuries and so forth, but Ruddock points to the examples of Gavin Henson and Ryan Jones as evidence the Welsh conveyor belt can unearth more gems.
Henson will be suspended until the third game, against Ireland, and it remains to be seen if he and the fanfare which surrounds him figures that day. From the outside, Henson appears a problematic, special case, who was obliged to apologise to his team-mates for some undiplomatic entries in his published 2005 diary, and Ruddock admits he'd prefer if there was less hype about an individual who is not nearly as worldly as his profile might suggest.
"But I guess when you kick the winning penalty against the world champions in a country like Wales, you've got silver boots, spiky hair, you shave your legs, and you go out with a very famous, world-renowned singer, you're going to get a little more attention and you can't really do much about that. All you can is talk to him and his region, for all of us to try to help him deal with a pretty difficult situation off the field, and to get him focused totally on the field. We're all learning, including Gavin, and we're fully supportive of him."
The riddle of Welsh performances in the European Cup and their national team remains something of a mystery to Ruddock, but in any event, no one can afford to stand still and there are many disgruntled old sages who are dismissive of Wales' achievements last season as a one-off, and who'd like to see them fall.
Equally though, Wales are hardly endowed to over-power teams, certainly not the likes of France, England and the Southern Hemisphere big three. So Wales will stick to their guns, and engage the enemy in lightning raids more than trench warfare. And they're going to try to play with a smile on their faces.
"We're going to try that. Who knows, if it works it works, and if it doesn't it doesn't."
With the exception of one match, you're tempted to wish him and Wales the best of luck.
